100 VIRGINBLUE
of a dolla r and, in many cases, spent their
childhood coming up with increasingly
innovative money-making schemes.
They are pedantic about the details and
are likely to be born pla nners.
POSTER BOY
• Warren Buffett (US$47 billion)
This investment guru is not short of a
dolla r, but getting him to hand one over
can be tough. He lives in the same modest
house he bought in 1958, favours fast food
over foie gras and dislikes luxury cars.
THE WHIZ KIDS
Often child prodigies, these fiercely
intelligent whiz-kids usually make
their money at a young age and almost
overnight from their sweeping product
innovations. They are technically gifted
and adept at coming up with ideas
that change the playing field. They are
obsessive freethinkers who can, at times,
be labelled as obnoxious and they may
suffer from underdeveloped social skills.
POSTER BOY
• Sergey Brin (US$17.5 billion)
Immigrating to the US from Russia
at the age of six, the Google co-founder
later followed in the intellectual
footsteps of his maths professor father
and became a computer science whiz
at Sta nford University.
You deal with dozens of billionaires
every day. Just think about it.
This morning you awoke to your
Apple iPhone ala rm (Steve Jobs, worth
US$5.5 billion). Then, after packing
your Louis Vuitton suitcase (Bernard
Arnault, worth US$27.5 billion), you
Googled (Sergey Brin, worth US$17.5
billion) your flight details and updated
your status on Facebook (Ma rk
Zuckerberg, worth US$4 billion) on
your way out the door. In the ta xi to
the airport you sipped a Starbucks
coffee (Howard Schultz, worth US$1.1
billion) while scanning the headlines
in The Australian newspaper (Rupert
Murdoch, worth US$6.3 billion).
So, with a billionaire around every
corner (or so it seems), it begs the question:
what do they have that we don't? Whether
they rule their empire with an iron fist,
overcame impossible odds, saved every
dolla r they earnt or were blessed with
technical genius, the a nswer is they have
lots of money. What distinguishes them,
of course, are the traits they have too.
THE EMPERORS
For these obsessive billionaires,
building a business empire is less about
accumulating wealth than wielding
power. They are uncompromising, bend
others to their will and actively seek to
influence public policy. They tend to
What separates the world's richest people from the rest
of us? Are billionaires born or made? Shane Conroy
puts the DNA of the billionaire under the microscope.
retain tight control over the day-to-day
running of their business and, more often
than not, are very decisive people.
POSTER BOY
• Rupert Murdoch (US$6.3 billion)
He turned a single Adelaide newspaper
into a global media empire a nd is
renowned as a hyperactive authoritaria n.
THE SURVIVORS
Some of the richest people in the world
have overcome poverty or difficult
childhoods to amass billion-dollar
fortunes. They are tenacious fighters who
tend to possess unshakable self-belief and
have a common touch that endears them
to people. They also have a tendency to
accept failure as a learning experience
and maintain an optimistic outlook.
POSTER BOY
• Fra nk Lowy (US$3 billion)
After sur viving the Holocaust, this
Czechoslovakian-born businessman
immigrated to Australia, where he turned
a small family deli into the international
Westfield shopping centre juggernaut.
THE BEAN COUNTERS
You don't get rich by spending money.
Despite having billions in the bank,
some of the world's richest people a re
renowned misers. They know the value
THE
BILLIONAIRE
GENOME